Bruce Springsteen Shares His Favorite Guitar Hero

Considered to be one of the greatest musicians of all time, Bruce Springsteen is a man who is beloved by many, young or old. His ability to create songs does not adhere to what’s typical about the industry, and instead, breaks barriers to help people connect through the power of music. He is indeed one of the most respectable artists of this generation.

But just like the rest of us, The Boss often talks about the people he admires the most. Since his love for music grows deeper as time went by, his respect for the people who molded its landscape is always on great heights. With Bob Dylan and The Beatles, he learned how to write influential songs full of passion and life. But one man stood among the rest, with whom Springsteen refers to as the man who changed the fabric of Rock and Roll. That man is none other than Chuck Berry.

It’s not unusual if there’s an artist, bigger than life, who would do anything to announce his love and admiration towards the “Grandfather of Rock and Roll.” But Springsteen knows he’s a cut above the rest of the fans, for he knew that Berry’s not only great in terms of songwriting, he’s also the “greatest guitarist of all time.”

Speaking with Rolling Stone after the death of his hero, Springsteen mourned the loss of the titan of music. He said: “Chuck Berry was rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived.”

It was a dream come true for the artist to share the stage with Chuck Berry during the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame together with his E Street Band. But it wasn’t what one expects it to be, in fact, the ending was nothing but a momentous disaster. Nils Lofgren, E Street Band’s guitarist, told the story on Ultimate Classic Rock: “Somehow, a minute or two [in], he shifts the song in gears and a key without talking to us,” Lofgren said. Berry was seen to be duckwalking off the stage, away from the terrible performance he partook in.

Yet it seemed like catastrophic performances wouldn’t change The Boss’s mind when it comes to admiring his guitar hero. After all, Chuck Berry strived for the best that he could ever be in the name of rock, and that’s the one thing that Bruce Springsteen had lived on for the rest of his career.